I gave up. I was getting close to my 15 day return period at micro center so I took back the ram, cpu and board. I was very leery of continuing to try and make things work without being able to get my money back or make an easy trade. SO - i bought a new board, cpu and ram - upgraded the BIOS first - and am starting from scratch. The good news is that i know i have a good OS. If (when) i have issues, I'll be sure to post here. I ran memtest overnight and it ran 7 successful passes so I'll check that one off my list.
Appreciate the suggestions - which i may still need.
Appreciate the suggestions - which i may still need.